Five years ago, the war ended and Miami was given to the vampires. Five years ago, the US turned its back on those trapped behind the Wall – and life in the vampire kingdom has degenerated into a grisly struggle for survival.

When naive and impulsive Selah Brown leaves Brooklyn to search for her father in the dead heart of the vampire city, she discovers that nothing is as it was explained to the American public—and her search is subverted into a quest to expose the truth before the horrors of the city can claim her.

Yet what hidden talent could one young woman possess that would allow her to stand a chance?

My Thoughts

I can’t say that I’m surprised that I liked this book because I thought the synopsis sounded pretty darn fun when I picked it up. I can, however, say that I was smitten with the world that was built here and the layers that were uncovered as the story progressed. I am a long time lover of broken cities and this book gave us a version of Miami that’s full of cracked streets and crumbling buildings on the outskirts and glittering highrises in the heart of the city. It was jarring to go from one extreme to the other and it worked perfectly to show the differences between those that are struggling to hold onto their humanity and those that are willing to embrace the lifestyle that the vampires offer.

There’s a lot going on in this book. Selah has to adapt to a new life behind the walls of Miami and she’s completely unprepared for what she finds. She has an agenda when she arrives and she’s just impulsive enough to jump into trying to follow her father’s investigation without knowing enough about the pulse of the city around her. Naturally, this lands her in a heap of trouble. Being on the vampires’ radar is not the place she wants to be and she ends up smack dab in the middle of something that could change everything.

Seriously, this book kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning. It dug its claws in deep and hung on until the bitter end. Not that the end is bitter. More bittersweet, I’d say. Selah’s world has changed, her eyes have been opened and her foundation has been rocked. She’s NOT the same girl she was when she stepped past the gate and things are only going to get more hairy as she continues to follow the leads she’s uncovering.

Wow — this sounds like a really super fun book. I’m also a huge dorky fan of post-apocalyptic walled off cities. In The Passage by Justin Cronin, he has the same thing going on, just with all the “normal” people walled up in a city away from the vampires taking over the country.

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